personal Statement

I am a lab-in-the-field experimental economist who investigates economic decision-making by low-income populations. My first published papers have focused primarily on poverty. My one book chapter describes the lab-in-the-field methodology. My six working papers and three projects in progress expand this domain to examine individuals in poverty who live in places exposed to high levels of crime and violence.

My research draws from the literature on identity, social exclusion, social networks and violence, and uses lab-in-the-field experiments and economic analysis to explain and predict behavior that enhances or inhibits economic development in complex parts of the world. My work so far has focused on Latin America, including large-scale lab-in-the-field experiments in Bogota, Cali, Barranquilla, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Oaxaca, Lima, Montevideo and San Jose de Costa Rica, in 12 rural villages in Mexico, as well as in multiple low-income neighborhoods in the U.S. and the Philippines.

The ultimate goal of my research is to identify and eventually testbed policies that can enhance the welfare of these individuals and thus contribute to economic development.